Video decoders are used in a variety of applications wherein analog video signals in a first format are digitized and decoded for use in other formats. Video consists of luma which represents a level between black and white and chroma which consists of two components containing color information. The analog video signal may comprise “S video”, wherein separate channels are used for luma and chroma, or more typically, “composite video”, where luma and chroma are included in the same signal. Typical color images are characterized in terms of red, green, and blue color components which are generated from luma and chroma. The video decoder digitizes analog video input signal information, for example, using an analog to digital converter (e.g., A/D) and separates the luma and chroma information in the digital domain.
The digitized video data may then be represented in a number of formats, including the YUV video format and the YCrCb video format. In the YUV format, the Y component represents the luma information required for a black and white system, the U component represents the difference between the value of B and the value of Y multiplied by a scale factor, and V is the difference between the value of R and the value of Y multiplied by a scale factor. The YUV format is a color space employed by the phase alternation line (e.g., PAL), national television system committee (e.g., NTSC), and systeme en couleur avec memoire (e.g., sequential color with memory, or SECAM) composite color video standards. SECAM is a color television standard developed in France, wherein 25 interlaced frames are broadcast per second (50 half frames per second) at 625 lines of resolution. SECAM is primarily found in France and Russia and many countries in Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. YCrCb is another color video standard using scaled and offset versions of the YUV color space. Y generally has a nominal range of 16 to 235 with Cr and Cb ranging from 16 to 240, wherein 128 equals zero (for 8 bit output).
The PAL, NTSC, and SECAM color video standards are thus employed for transmission of composite analog video signals, which may be operated on by video decoders. A digital video decoder device requires the composite analog video signal to be first digitized using an A/D converter, and then the luma and chroma components to be separated. In the PAL and NTSC standards, the color information is amplitude (e.g., AM) modulated, whereas SECAM video signals include frequency (e.g., FM) modulated color information. SECAM utilizes FM modulation to transmit its color information, including color difference signals Db and Dr. In the SECAM format, the Db and Dr difference signals are alternatively transmitted Db, Dr, Db, Dr, . . . , and so on, wherein the Db and Dr components each have a different subcarrier frequency. For instance, SECAM employs a first nominal subcarrier frequency of 4.25 MHz for the Db component, and second nominal frequency of 4.40625 MHz for the Dr component.
Because of the FM modulation of analog color information in SECAM, the isolated digitized color information in a SECAM decoder is presented to an FM demodulator to obtain a demodulated color signal having amplitude variations representative of variations or deviations from the nominal subcarrier frequency. The demodulated color signal may then be operated on digitally in order to reformat, process, or otherwise manipulate the color information as needed. The decoder may then provide corresponding video output signals, such as in YCrCb for use in television or other video systems.
However, several problems exist in the implementation of FM demodulators for operating on the digitized video color signals. Discrete time equivalents of analog FM demodulators (e.g., like the “one-shot type”) or simple digital methods (e.g., the “frequency counter type”) require high clock frequencies (e.g., about 6 GHz). Phase locked loop (e.g., PLL) type FM demodulators have less stringent clock frequency requirements than the above. However, for a modulation index of 400 kHz at a bandwidth of 1.2 MHz and a carrier frequency of 4.286 MHz, a 13.5 MHz clock is marginal. Moreover, the PLL type FM demodulator may be sensitive to amplitude variations in the carrier signal. Although statically, the PLL type demodulator cares little about the amplitude of the FM-carrier signal, in operation the loop dynamics depend highly on well conditioned input signals such that an automatic gain control (AGC) may be required prior to FM-demodulation.
So called “product type” FM demodulators have acceptable clock frequency requirements, but suffer from higher sensitivity to carrier signal amplitude variations. In zero-crossing FM demodulators, samples occur only after a zero crossing of the FM-carrier signal. As these zero crossings occur asynchronously with respect to the clock frequency, complicated re-shuffling and sample rate conversion are needed to prevent non-equidistant sampling. Accordingly, there is a need for improved FM demodulation apparatus and techniques for video decoders, by which the effects of carrier signal amplitude variations may be mitigated without requiring high clock frequencies.